Affordable Planting

Watching the the great Chelsea Challenge on the BBC you couldn’t help but be impressed by the designs of the gardens created by the amateur designers. However the one thing that struck me was the amount of money which was spent on plants to create such small gardens. Scaling up from their small plots to my garden I would need to spend over £30,000 on plants alone! Clearly this is unrealistic for most people. Especially me!

So how can you plant your garden without breaking the bank?

It’s OK watching a garden design program which shows a garden completed in a couple of days, but unless you have deep pockets you are not going to be able to afford to plant your garden in one go. So create a staged plan. Start with a final vision and then work out the steps you will take to get there and don’t be afraid to change your plan as you go.

Buy Small Plants

Whilst you can get instant effect from large plants you will get more plants for your money with smaller ones. You will also then get the enjoyment of watching them develop. Try shopping at a nursery rather than a garden centre they will tend to grow there own pants and so will often be much cheaper.

Propagate From The Plants You Have.

There were only a few plants in my garden when I moved in so I had very little to propagate from, but if you have a few plants start by propagating from these. No one wants all the same plants but sometime swathes of the same plant can create a feature or using the same plant to tie different areas of the garden together, This year I have split the primroses and the lupins in my garden. I have also taken cuttings from the honey suckle. A modest start.

Grow From Seed

Growing from seed is the cheapest way of raising new plants although it does require patients. I have grown mainly perennials this year in order to try to fill out my borders. You can buy seeds or collect seeds from your own plants or even friends. Look on line for offers on seeds.

A friendship garden is a garden which was created using donations of plants from friends and family. This is the way I acquired a large number of my plants last year. Hopefully I will soon be able to start sharing my plants with others. Gardeners are generous people and whether it be plants seeds or cuttings they are usually more than willing to share.

Do I want to fill my garden in one go? I would loose the enjoyment of watching it develop piece by piece, area by area.. but it would be nice to have that choice.

We moved into this house in 2013. At that time the garden was a blank canvas, This blog is a scrapbook of my gardening journey. Something I can look back on and remember the highs and lows, something that perhaps other people will enjoy reading and hopefully commenting on along the way.